Division of Leichhardt

Leichhardt
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Leichhardt in Queensland, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created 1949
MP Warren Entsch
Party Liberal National
Namesake Ludwig Leichhardt
Electors 109,077 (2016)
Area 148,988 km2 (57,524.6 sq mi)
Demographic Rural

The Division of Leichhardt is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was first contested in 1949 after the expansion of seats in the Parliament of Australia. It is one of Australia's largest electorates, covering an area stretching from Cairns to Cape York and the Torres Strait, including the Torres Strait Islands.

The division is named after Ludwig Leichhardt, an explorer and scientist. The area was first covered by the seat of Herbert from 1901 to 1934 and then by the seat of Kennedy until 1949.

Most of the electorate is almost uninhabited except for small Aboriginal communities, but the extreme southeast, consisting of the northern half of the Wet Tropics, with rich volcanic soils instead of the extraordinarily infertile lateritic sands and gravels of Cape York proper, is quite densely populated and includes urban Cairns. There are small, intensive sugar cane, banana and mango farms in this region, though they are prone to damage from droughts and cyclones.

A safe Labor seat from the late 1950s to the 1970s, it has been marginal for most of the time since then. While Cairns has historically tilted toward Labor, the more rural areas tilt toward the Liberals and Nationals.

It was a bellwether seat held by the party of government from the 1972 election until the 2010 election. When Warren Entsch, who held the seat from 1996 to 2007, won it back for the LNP in 2010, he became the seat's first opposition member in four decades. It also marked the first time Labor had been in government without holding Leichhardt.

Ahead of the 2016 federal election, ABC psephologist Antony Green listed the seat in his election guide as one of eleven which he classed as "bellwether" electorates.[1]

Members

MemberPartyTerm
  Tom Gilmore Country 1949–1951
  Harry Bruce Labor 1951–1958
  Bill Fulton Labor 1958–1975
  David Thomson National 1975–1983
  John Gayler Labor 1983–1993
  Peter Dodd Labor 1993–1996
  Warren Entsch Liberal 1996–2007
  Jim Turnour Labor 2007–2010
  Warren Entsch Liberal National 2010–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2016: Leichhardt[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal National Warren Entsch 35,066 39.49 −5.77
Labor Sharryn Howes 24,939 28.08 −4.49
Greens Kurt Pudniks 7,702 8.67 +2.08
One Nation Peter Rogers 6,775 7.63 +7.63
Independent Daniel McCarthy 6,096 6.86 +6.86
Katter's Australian Brad Tassell 3,840 4.32 +0.03
Family First Ned Kelly Gebadi 2,257 2.54 +0.35
Rise Up Australia John Kelly 1,439 1.62 +1.06
Independent Michael Newie 694 0.78 +0.78
Total formal votes 88,808 92.68 −1.87
Informal votes 7,012 7.32 +1.87
Turnout 95,820 87.85 −3.43
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal National Warren Entsch 47,915 53.95 −1.73
Labor Sharryn Howes 40,893 46.05 +1.73
Liberal National hold Swing −1.73

References

  1. ↑ The Bellwether Contests: Antony Green ABC
  2. ↑ Leichhardt, QLD, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.

Coordinates: 14°21′25″S 143°07′16″E / 14.357°S 143.121°E / -14.357; 143.121

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